Paper for manufacturing books or newspapers are made in rolls that typically may be 5 to 8 feet long, 60 inches in diameter, weigh 3000 to 8000 pounds, and be worth $300 or more. Sometimes an end of a roll is wet blocked, oversized, crushed or otherwise damaged so as to be useless because the paper cannot unroll properly, for example, in printing newspapers. When this happens, the valuable roll of paper conventionally is thrown away and its value is lost.
For some time it has been desired to salvage at least a part of these damaged rolls. Attempts have been made to cut off the bad end of the roll by using a chain saw held in the hands of a workman, but it is too difficult to hold the saw to get a square cut fresh end. Attempts have also been made to cut off the bad end of a roll by using a band saw, but band saws can break and whip about, and are highly dangerous.